Before Jily
by And Then There Were Three
Summary: Even the teachers though Lily and James would end up together. But what happened to cause that? What happened before Jily?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! This is my first fanfic, so please read and review! I will update as quickly as possible, and I'm hoping to continue this story even after Jily! I'm generally not big on author's notes, so anything I really need to say will be at the end of the chapter from here on out. Thanks so much!  
-Di**

Chapter 1

James and Lily, Lily and James: they were peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk. However, when they were named Head Boy and Girl during the summer before their 7th year, many were unsure of whether they'd both survive their last year at Hogwarts.

Lily hurtled through the barrier and onto the platform, straight into the arms of Marlene McKinnon and Mary Price, two of her best friends and dorm-mates. "Where's Alice?" Lily asked as they ushered her into a compartment. "I'm so late I almost missed the train, and Al has never been a second late in her life." As Lily's words faded from the air of their compartment, the door burst open.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Mary good-naturedly, tossing her unruly dark ringlets.

"What's that?" Alice, who had heard Mary perfectly, inquired.

"Oh, nothing," Mary grumbled. Alice rolled her eyes at her friend's antics, and plopped onto one of the seats. She then proceeded to fall asleep.

"Agh!" Lily cried, "I forgot! I have the stupid bloody prefect meeting! Guys, I have to lead it! Bloody buggering hell, I can't believe I forgot!"

"Oh, Lils, you know you've been prepping for this in front of your mirror for the past three years," Marlene teased. "The bathroom isn't soundproofed, y'know…"

Lily squared her shoulders. "Ok. You're right, I can do this. Bye!" She breezed from the room, leaving Mary and Marlene gaping after her. Since first year, Lily had said "Bye" approximately once, when she and Sev had had their big blowup in 5th year. She'd decided she didn't know enough about other countries, so she had learned how to say goodbye in so many languages that the girls didn't remember her repeating herself. It clearly meant she was stressed, but about what, they had no clue…

Lily hurtled headfirst down the corridor towards the prefect's compartment, fully aware that she had only a few seconds before she'd be considered late. "Crap, I'm already a failure and I haven't even gotten to the castle. I'm ready for when they revoke my badge, I knew it was a mistake when I got the bloody letter!" As her internal monologue reached a climax, she crashed into something. Mmm, soft. Practically unconsciously, she began to snuggle into it as she would a duvet.

"Wait, what am I doing?" She winced. That was supposed to be silent, moron.

"Umm, Evans? I, er…" a deep voice stuttered.

"Oh. Potter. Why are you here? A bit close to the prefect's carriage, isn't it? Aren't you usually flouting authority?" Derision dripped from her voice.

James chuckled. "Be a bit hard now, love. Didn't anyone tell you? I'm Head Boy."

"Don't call me that!"

James self-consciously lifted a hand to his hair, but a small, pale hand caught him in the action. "Just… don't, okay?" Lifting an eyebrow, James decided to let the matter drop as his previous words hit Lily in full force.

"Wait, YOU'RE Head Boy? I thought it was going to be Adam Prewett, from Ravenclaw!" Lily shrieked. "Now Dumbledore will have two incompetent Heads! Oh, damn, what am I doing?" She shook herself off and slipped into the prefect's compartment, 10 minutes before the meeting even began.

Back in their compartment, Marlene and Mary had decided on a game of Exploding Snap. "Damn!" Marlene groused as her hair was set on fire. Extinguishing it, she gave Alice a good jab for disturbing her concentration.

"Wha.. huh?"

"Al, your muttering made me burn my hair!"

"Oh, sorry. Umm, out of curiosity, what did I actually say?" the culprit asked.

"Oh, just something about Kiss me more, Frank. They won't mind, I can rejoin them later," Marlene replied absently. Then, she realized what she'd heard. "Al, care to tell us anything? What have you been doing recently?"

"Oh, ah, nothing, Marls. I was late because I forgot to pack until this morning," Alice covered. The others sighed, wishing that it wasn't true; the entire Hogwarts population knew Frank and Alice fancied each other, and thought that they'd make an ideal couple. The entire population, that is, except for Frank, Alice, and Sirius Black.

Sirius was usually too busy pulling a prank or snogging a different girl to pay attention to other people's love lives, and quite frankly he didn't care.

"Oi, Moony, pass us a Cauldron Cake, would ya?" the boy barked.

Remus, smirking, passed a Cauldron Cake, a chocolate frog, several pumpkin pasties and 3 licorice wands, knowing exactly want his friend actually wanted. Sirius shot him a grateful look, then said, stuffing a pasty into his mouth, "Aren' oo sposed t' be a the prefec meetin', Moony?"

"Not for another quarter of an hour, Prongs bribed all the prefects to go 10 minutes late so he could talk to Lily. She still doesn't know he's Head Boy, so he figures he needs some time to get her used to the idea."

"Maybe he can get her to loosen up a little," said Sirius. He was the only Marauder who didn't think that Lily and James would make an ideal couple, and was vehemently against the idea. Remus and Peter, in the absence of James, took it upon themselves to show their disapproval by pelting him with bits of the sweet boxes.

"So, boys, how about the Cannons? I think they've got a right good chance at the championship this year."

In the ten minutes before The Meeting, as she'd come to call it, Lily determinedly faced the wall and chanted, Welcome to our new prefects, and why was his shirt so soft? Damn, I should have been paying more attention, otherwise I wouldn't have to make small talk with him! Christ, I am an idiot!

"So, congrats on Head Girl, I guess, Evans."

Lily heaved a sigh. "Thanks, Potter. Congrats on Head to you as well. But seriously, you'd better let me do most of the talking, since you have absolutely no experience being a prefect." James, seeing the logic in this statement, begrudgingly agreed to Lily's request. Minutes later, all 14 prefects entered the carriage, and Lily began her speech.

"Welcome, new prefects, and welcome back, returnees! If you could all take a seat and listen up, we can get a move on!" Lily struggled to be heard above the din.

"Oi, you lot! Listen to the Head Girl! The faster you settle in, the faster we can all get back to Exploding Snap or whatever."

"Thank you, Potter. And now: It's a great honor to be selected prefect, so we hope you take it seriously. Remember, you cannot remove points without a valid reason, and..."

"Yeah, it's a right pain in the arse for use to sort out your vindictive point deductions, so do us a favor it keep it legit, alright?" James interjected. Lily, irritated, prodded him, but decided to continue.

"You will all be required to patrol the castle, one pair each night. Patrols will be from 9-11 on weekdays, and 10-1 on weekends and Fridays. At our first official meeting on Monday, we can arrange that; in the meantime, is there anyone who'd like to patrol tomorrow? James and I will take tonight." No one volunteered, and Lily heaved a sigh. "Okay, then, I'll have to assign you. Sorry, guys, but we do have to patrol. How about Amos Diggory and Julia Little on Friday night, Severus Snape and Sophia Harper on Saturday, and Jack Malone and Emma Vance on Sunday. Sorry once again, but I hope you'll be able to figure something more satisfactory out on Monday. I think that's about it for now, you're all welcome to go back to your carriages. And remember, James and I are here to help you, so let us know if you need anything. Ciao, all!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As the prefects exited, rather noisily, Lily heaved a sigh of relief. She'd done it! It had been a bit awkward, since really wasn't that much older than they were, but the prefects were very kind about it. Actually, having James wasn't that bad. He was even a bit helpful in the beginning, wasn't he? "Agh, what am I thinking? Potter couldn't be helpful if his bloody life depended on it!" she exclaimed, hitting herself upside the head. As she turned from her position staring out the window, Lily flinched. Crap. Of course he's still here, moron! You're co-Heads; he's probably waiting for you to tell him about patrols and such. Why does my bloody mouth have to, well, mouth off? "Oh, Potter. Sorry about that..." Lily stammered uneasily. James, hurt, shrugged.

"Well, obviously I'm not wanted here, so I'd best get back to my mates. S'long, Evans. I guess I'll see you during rounds tonight." James' tone was bitingly cold, and it made Lily's heart stop for a second.

"I daresay you have a prank to plan, if this year's like all the rest." Lily's reply was equally biting, as she tried to mask the hurt she couldn't explain. Now, what Lily didn't exactly remember was that there hadn't been a prank last year; in fact, James-of-6th-year had been extraordinarily well-behaved. He'd turned his homework in on time, and only received 4 detentions, mostly for hexing Slytherins. Actually, Slytherins and everyone who tried to hit on Lily. So, maybe more like 10 detentions. Still, for him this was amazing, and Lily's blatant rudeness and unobservant remarks hit him exactly where it hurt.

Perhaps the thing that was most indicative of this change was that all he did was walk out of the carriage, not even slamming the door behind him.

A still-pissed Lily stalked back to her compartment and threw herself down on the seats. "Bloody James Potter and his bloody hair and soft shirt and bloody prattishness! Why the hell he was named Head Boy, I may never figure out! Actually, I'll never have the chance! It's incredibly likely that I'll just die of overwork, what with NEWTs and homework and all the bloody Head duties!"

Alice, who had fallen back to sleep, was jolted awake by her friend's shrikes. "Honey, it's going to be fine. You know Dumbledore must have had a reason, he's the greatest wizard of our time. You'll be fine, he'll be fine, and you won't die of stress. Besides, Pomfrey has some lovely sleeping potions that we'd be glad to slip you," sweet Alice reasoned.

"Ugh! Alice! That's not the point! I just need you to remind me that I hate James, hate the way he ruffles his hair, hate everything about him! Because right now, I'm kind of forgetting it and that's not ok!" Marlene shot a victorious glance at Mary.

"That's 5 Galleons later, Mare," the Gryffindor gloated in an undertone. The two had a running bet that Lily would fall for James by October, and it certainly seemed that Marlene was pulling ahead.

Mary, scowling, was suddenly roused by her first glimpse of Hogwarts. "Look, guys! Our home away from home, where I can snog as many boys as I like!" Her friends laughed, remembering Mary's ever-present ability to shut them up and make them fall to pieces laughing.

"Shut up, Mare! We do not need to know about your exploits! Besides, we should change. We all should have been dressed, like, half an hour ago!" Without further adieu, the three who weren't deep in thought about a certain James Potter tapped the the window gently, muttering Obscurus. Instantly the huge surface turned a deep, opaque blue, effectively sealing off their entire compartment from prying eyes.

Minutes later, Alice, Mary and Marlene had pried Lily away from her musings and hauled her off the train. Since the narrow corridor was apt to get crowded, they headed off to wait near the external doors about 5 minutes before they arrived at Hogsmeade Station, levitating their bags. Their trunks, which had been loaded separately, would be waiting for them when they arrived in their dormitory after the Welcome Feast.

They had been right: the hallway was absolutely packed. Fortunately, 6 years had taught them various little tricks that they now employed, ducking under arms and weaving around feet. Eventually, quite breathless, they collapsed into the carriage that would take them to Hogwarts.

 **A/N: This is a bit of a filler chapter, and I'm not in love with it. But anyways, please let me know how you like it! Many thanks to those of you who have reviewed and favorited/followed, I truly wasn't expecting a response yet.**


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